Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:
(John 19:1) Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him.
At the end of the last chapter, Jesus having been brought before Pilate to receive a sentence of death, Pilate had told the people he had found no fault in Jesus. However, the people clamored for Jesus's crucifixion, so Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. It's difficult to understand Pilate's heart. At the very least, I find him to be a very weak man. He found no fault in Jesus, yet he let the people drive him, the Roman governor, to scourge an innocent man and deliver Him to be crucified. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, suggested that he might have delivered Jesus to be scourged so that they would be satisfied with that punishment and then he could release Jesus. This might have some basis in truth as Pilate continued to say that he found no fault in Jesus (v. 4). However, it was the custom to first scourge the criminals they condemned to be crucified. Whatever his reasoning, he still was morally weak for having an innocent man scourged.
(2) And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. (3) And said, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.
In derision, the soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus's head. They also put a purple robe on Him and mocked Him as a king. They also struck Him with their hands.
(4) Pilate therefore went forth again and said to them, "Behold, I bring Him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in Him."
Then Pilate went back out to the Jews to tell them he was bringing forth Jesus to show how He had been scourged and abused and to tell them again that he found no fault in Jesus. He found no fault, yet he allowed this to be done to Jesus? Perhaps his purpose was to show that since he had allowed so much to be done to Jesus, if he had found Him to be the least bit guilty, he would have had no problem crucifying Him. However, he said he still found no fault in Jesus.
(5) Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"
Then Pilate brought Jesus forth, and He was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and was surely in a worse condition due to the scourging. Pilate told the people to look at Jesus and see what had been done to Him, hoping this would satisfy the Jews.
(6) When the chief priests and officers therefore saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."
However, not at all satisfied, the chief priests and officers cried out to crucify Jesus. Pilate told them to take Jesus themselves and crucify Him if they thought they must, because he found no fault in Him.
(7) The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law, He ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God."
The charge of sedition was not working with Pilate, so the Jews told him that according to their Jewish law, Jesus ought to die because He had called Himself the Son of God, which they were calling blasphemy. Their law called for stoning, but they had wanted the governor to sentence Jesus so that He would be crucified, a more horrible method of killing.
(8) When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
When Pilate heard that, he was afraid. He was convinced that Jesus was innocent as he could see more and more clearly the design of the Jews. However, they now brought up a charge of which he did not have a full understanding. He would bring their wrath if he denied them; however, as he saw Jesus as innocent, he probably wondered if He could truly be divine.
(9) And went again into the judgment hall and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.
Therefore Pilate went back in to try to get an answer from Jesus. He asked Him where He was from, but Jesus did not answer him. He was surely trying to determine if Jesus was indeed divine and not of this world. Jesus had already told Pilate His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), and Pilate already had enough information to determine Jesus was innocent, yet he had had Him scourged and ridiculed. Pilate was a morally weak man refusing to do what his conscience knew to be the right thing, so probably nothing more Jesus could say would change his actions.
(10) Then Pilate said to Him, "You don't speak to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You and have power to release You?"
In arrogance, Pilate cautioned Jesus about not speaking to him, as he told Jesus in his puffed-up pride that he had the power to either crucify Jesus or release Him.
(11) Jesus answered, "You could have no power against Me, except it were given you from above; therefore he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."
Jesus told Pilate that he had no power over Jesus except what had been given to him by God. Once Jesus had been delivered to be crucified, it was definitely going to be carried out. And then Jesus went on to answer the question about Pilate's guilt in this matter. He said that the one who delivered Him to Pilate had the greater sin. That indicates that Pilate had indeed sinned in scourging an innocent man, but Jesus held the sin of delivering Him in the first place the greater sin.
(12) And from then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."
After Jesus said that to Pilate, Pilate tried to release Him, being convinced of His innocence and probably desiring not to sin anymore against Him. However, the Jews cried out against him, telling him he was no friend of Caesar's if he let Jesus go because Jesus had spoken of Himself as being king, so they saw that as against Caesar, returning to their charge of sedition.
(13) When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
When Pilate realized the Jews might make accusations of his treachery against Caesar, he feared more for his own position than he did of condemning an innocent man, and he brought Jesus before the judgment seat, and he sat down as the judge in the place called Gabbatha in Hebrew, the Pavement. The Greek word translated as "pavement" was "lithostrotos," meaning stoned or mosaic pavement. "Gabbatha" meant "elevated" or "platform." The Pavement was evidently an elevated stone or mosaic platform probably where judgments were pronounced.
(14) And it was the Preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"
It was the Preparation Day of the Passover at about noon. The Jews counted their hours beginning at dawn or six in the morning. The time was getting short before Passover would begin at sundown, so I suppose Pilate decided it was time to get this deed done. He told the Jews to behold their king.
(15) But they cried out, "Away with Him! Away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
However, the Jews cried out to crucify Jesus, to which Pilate asked if they wanted him to crucify their king. The chief priests answered that they had no king but Caesar. They rejected their King Messiah, but also denied God as their king, calling Caesar their only king.
(16) Then he delivered Him therefore to them to be crucified. And they took and led Jesus away.
So the weak governor Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus to the Jews, knowing what they were about to do. They took Jesus and led Him away.
(17) And He, bearing His cross, went forth to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, (18) Where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the middle.
Jesus bore His own cross and was led to a place called the Place of the Skull, or Golgotha in Hebrew, which means "skull." It was so called because of the bones of criminals who had been executed that lay there. That is where Jesus was crucified with two others, one on either side of Him, He being in between them.
(19) And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Pilate had made an inscription on the cross above Jesus, as the other Gospels put it, saying, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." The latter part of the inscription was meant to be the accusation against Him according to the account in Matthew, but it was a true assertion of who Jesus really was.
(20) This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Many Jews had the opportunity to read the inscription because Jesus was crucified close to Jerusalem. Pilate had written the inscription in three different languages, which probably accounts for the slight varying interpretations of all the Gospels. Matthew had said it read, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Mark said simply, THE KING OF THE JEWS, however, he did indicate that was the accusation, so he may have been commenting only on that part of the inscription. Luke said it read, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(21) Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"
The chief priests of the Jews objected to Pilate writing that Jesus was the King of the Jews. They told him to write it as Jesus had said that He was King of the Jews, not that it was a fact.
(22) Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
However, Pilate answered that what he had written was to stand. Neither he nor the chief priests realized that it was undoubtedly the will of God that it be written that way.
(23) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also His robe. Now His robe was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
The soldiers who had raised Jesus up on the cross, apparently four of them, took Jesus's garments and divided them into four parts among them. However, Jesus's robe or tunic, His outer garment, was made without seams and not easily divided.
(24) They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the scripture might be fulfilled which says, "They parted My garments among them, and for My vesture they cast lots." These things therefore the soldiers did.
The soldiers did not want to tear the robe, but agreed to cast lots for it, not knowing they were fulfilling the scripture in Psalm 22:18, "They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture," His outer garment. The soldiers had indeed divided his garments among them and cast lots for His robe.
(25) Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
Jesus's mother and Mary Magdalene stood by the cross of Jesus. It's unclear if Mary's sister and Mary the wife of Cleophas were two different women, or one and the same. It's doubtful that Jesus's mother would have had a sister named the same as her, however, she could be Jesus's mother Mary's sister-in-law, who would have been called her sister. Matthew and Mark, in their accounts, spoke of a Mary, the mother of James and Joses. Mark said specifically she was the mother of James the Little and Joses. James the Little was one of Jesus's twelve apostles, the son of Alphaeus, who is the same as Cleophas (Alphaeus being Greek and Cleophas, Hebrew). If Cleophas was Joseph's brother (the husband of Jesus's mother), then Mary his wife would be called Jesus's mother Mary's sister; however, we are not told that. But we are given one more clue when in Mark 6:3, neighbors asked about Jesus's family, specifically His brothers James and Joses. This would suggest a very close relationship, if not Jesus's brothers from the same immediate family, probably His first cousins, sons of his earthly father Joseph's brother Cleophas, or Alphaeus. By the way, this Cleophas is probably not the same person Cleopas in Luke 24:18 as Cleopas is a Greek name short for Cleopater, whereas Cleophas in the Greek is Alphaeus.
(26) When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son."
Jesus looked upon His mother Mary and also saw His beloved disciple John standing by her. He told His mother to behold her adopted son who would care for her in the absence of her son Jesus. Adam Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible pointed out that John was the only disciple who did not die a premature unnatural death. It seems God protected and preserved him for the care of Jesus's earthly mother.
(27) Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour that disciple took her into his own.
Jesus also told John to behold his mother, and he did indeed care for her as his mother, taking her into his own home. Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible wrote that tradition said that Mary lived with John until her death about fifteen years later.
(28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst."
This is really an amazing verse. Jesus was thirsty, but He could have certainly borne that without complaint, but so that the scripture would be fulfilled, and that all who witnessed it would have further proof that He was the Messiah fulfilling every last detail that was written about Him by the prophets, Jesus said He was thirsty.
(29) Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth.
The Roman soldiers dipped a sponge in vinegar and put it on a hyssop branch and then lifted that up to Jesus's mouth. That indeed fulfilled the scripture in Psalm 69:21 which read, "...in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."
(30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.
Jesus was in complete control the entire time. He asked for the drink to fulfill prophesy, and when that was done, He declared that His work culminating in dying on the cross was finished. He then proactively gave up the ghost. He chose to die at that point. Everything that happened to Jesus was all within His will. He could have stopped it at any point, but because of His love for us sinners, He chose to go through it all for us.
(31) The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath Day (for that Sabbath Day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken away.
It was the Preparation Day for the Sabbath, and it was a special high one in that the Feast of the Passover commenced on the Sabbath in that year. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when Jesus died (Matthew 27:46) and that was the time the Jews started making preparation for their Sabbath. Jewish law ordered that the bodies of criminals should not hang all night (Deuteronomy 21:23), and because they were anxious to start preparing for their high Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to break the crucified men's legs so that they would die quickly and could be taken away. To be able to keep breathing when hanging on a cross, one would lift his body up with his legs, so once his legs were broken, he could no longer lift himself to breathe and would die.
(32) Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
The soldiers did indeed break the legs of the two criminals who were hanging on either side of Jesus.
(33) But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs.
The chief priests of the Jews would have surely liked to see Jesus's legs broken as an added cruelty, but because Jesus laid down His life of His own accord, He was not to be killed by the breaking of His legs.
(34) But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side and immediately blood and water came out.
One of the soldiers, just to make sure Jesus was indeed dead, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water spewed forth. It is a consensus belief among commentators that the soldier had pierced the pericardium that surrounds the heart and that is where the water flowed from. By piercing the heart, the soldier would guarantee that Jesus was dead or would have been immediately killed by his action. The blood and the water would have proved that, but additionally may have been symbolic of water baptism and blood atonement.
(35) And he who saw it bore record and his record is true, and he knows that he says truth that you might believe.
This sounds like it was probably John himself who saw the soldier pierce Jesus's side and probably His heart, proving that Jesus was indeed dead so that there could be no claims of His having just fainted when He was later found to not be in His tomb. John desired to make it a certain truth by an eyewitness that Jesus had indeed died.
(36) For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, "A bone of Him shall not be broken."
Even after Jesus had died, the things that were done to Him fulfilled scripture. Psalm 34:20 reads, "He keeps all His bones; not one of them is broken."
(37) And again, another scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."
Additionally, the scripture in Zechariah 12:10 was fulfilled which reads in part, "...and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced..."
(38) And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.
Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple of Jesus, following Him secretly because he feared the Jews, asked Pilate if he might be permitted to take the body of Jesus. Pilate indeed gave him permission and he took Jesus's body.
(39) And there came also Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Nicodemus, another secret follower of Christ, who had first come to Jesus in the middle of the night so as not to be seen, brought a large quantity of myrrh and aloes, a hundred pounds, to perfume Jesus's body in honor and respect for Him. John Wesley, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that while Jesus's apostles had apparently all left Him dead hanging on the cross, these two followers who had formerly only followed Jesus in secret, now came out publicly to care for His body.
(40) Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus's body and wrapped it in linen with the spices as was the custom of the Jews to bury someone.
(41) Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre in which was never a man yet laid.
Near the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden in which was a new sepulchre that had never been used. Matthew 27:60 told us it was Joseph's own new tomb that he had hewn out of rock.
(42) There they laid Jesus because of the Jews' Preparation, for the sepulchre was near at hand.
Had they had more time, they may have prepared a different place for Jesus to be buried in His own tomb, but because it was near the end of Preparation Day and the Sabbath was fast approaching, they buried Him in Joseph's tomb as it was nearby. This fulfilled another prophetic scripture in Isaiah 53:9, "And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death..." Jesus had died among wicked criminals and was buried in a rich man's tomb, as Joseph was said to be a rich man. Matthew told us in chapter 27:57 that Joseph was a rich man and a disciple of Jesus. Mark 15:43 stated he was also a respected member of the council of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking for the kingdom of God. Luke 23:50 added that he had not agreed to the council's decision regarding Jesus. He was a good and just man who cared for Jesus's body and gave Him his own new tomb.
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